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charloween1. It has funny parts, scary parts, was written by Marti Noxon* and - most importantly - everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves on camera. It seems content to play within the comedy/horror genre** while being aware of it (overt and more subtle Twilight skewering was appreciated).
*Leaving aside her time as producer, she did write "Surprise" and "Buffy vs Dracula".
**The voluptuous blonde vampire in the shredded white dress you'd expect at the climactic battle is there, but she's not there gratuitously and how she gets to be wearing that outfit makes sense in the plot but isn't directly referenced and I think this represents a good step forward for teen vampire movies.
2. I have seen and enjoyed performances by each member of the main cast in the last year or so. Colin Farrell is good as the nice-no-wait-creepy-aaaah-vampire!! neighbour - shades of Intermission, which I recently rewatched, but more competent and way better looking - he especially looked like he was having fun with it.
Anton Yelchin, yes, Star Trek, but he also did the geeky-cute-earnest high schooler thing in one of the better stories in New York I Love You.
David Tennant's playing something equal parts Criss Angel and Russell Brand. I think he was enjoying a role without so much running but with lots of drinking and swearing. After this and Much Ado I think I'm finally found my way around to liking him again. *shakeyfist at Russell T.*
Toni Collette, like David Tennant, took a few good character bits and built a full person out of them (my flatmate adores her, so we'd been watching a lot of her stuff). There's probably something to be written about the mothers in teenage vampire movies, starting with this and My Best Friend is a Vampire.
Imogen Poots, who has a great name, played the girlfriend-with-a-brain-and-spine here and played inspiration-for-Sally-Bowles (opposite Matt Smith!) in Christopher and his Kind, where I thought she did well with the layers that character demanded. In this one, the male characters do their best to objectify her, but the film itself (and her performance) makes her more than that.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse might've slipped further into typecasting as yet another friendless nerd, but did drop a Farscape reference and show off some serious action skills. Acting skills, too.
Oh, and Chris Sarandon has a cameo. :D
3. More than once I clapped at inventively gross special effects. And lovingly jeered at single shining tears. And cackled at good lines. I'm confident thatfirstgold and I enjoyed the film more than anyone else in the theatre. Well, we cackled more, stayed to the end of the credits, and kept giggling all the way to the car and out to the road. So.
3b. And as a remake? Totally successful. Possibly even better than the original. Sweet special effects, a snappy pace and dimensional characters, a few sideways references to the ongoing economic crisis and some Deeper Themes about the nature of being a fan. In 3D.
This is all despite the 3D glasses not quite fitting over my own glasses. There weren't many moments where I forgot about the 3D artifice, but I still enjoyed the film immensely. Maybe watching in 3D gets better with practice? This was my first 3D summer blockbuster.
tl;dr - I was expecting silly and fun, and while I got my fannish catnip I also got a film I'd enjoy watching again. It made me happy, and it gave me characters I liked. Yes, it was worth the $15.75extortion fee ticket price.
*Leaving aside her time as producer, she did write "Surprise" and "Buffy vs Dracula".
**The voluptuous blonde vampire in the shredded white dress you'd expect at the climactic battle is there, but she's not there gratuitously and how she gets to be wearing that outfit makes sense in the plot but isn't directly referenced and I think this represents a good step forward for teen vampire movies.
2. I have seen and enjoyed performances by each member of the main cast in the last year or so. Colin Farrell is good as the nice-no-wait-creepy-aaaah-vampire!! neighbour - shades of Intermission, which I recently rewatched, but more competent and way better looking - he especially looked like he was having fun with it.
Anton Yelchin, yes, Star Trek, but he also did the geeky-cute-earnest high schooler thing in one of the better stories in New York I Love You.
David Tennant's playing something equal parts Criss Angel and Russell Brand. I think he was enjoying a role without so much running but with lots of drinking and swearing. After this and Much Ado I think I'm finally found my way around to liking him again. *shakeyfist at Russell T.*
Toni Collette, like David Tennant, took a few good character bits and built a full person out of them (my flatmate adores her, so we'd been watching a lot of her stuff). There's probably something to be written about the mothers in teenage vampire movies, starting with this and My Best Friend is a Vampire.
Imogen Poots, who has a great name, played the girlfriend-with-a-brain-and-spine here and played inspiration-for-Sally-Bowles (opposite Matt Smith!) in Christopher and his Kind, where I thought she did well with the layers that character demanded. In this one, the male characters do their best to objectify her, but the film itself (and her performance) makes her more than that.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse might've slipped further into typecasting as yet another friendless nerd, but did drop a Farscape reference and show off some serious action skills. Acting skills, too.
Oh, and Chris Sarandon has a cameo. :D
3. More than once I clapped at inventively gross special effects. And lovingly jeered at single shining tears. And cackled at good lines. I'm confident that
firstgold and I enjoyed the film more than anyone else in the theatre. Well, we cackled more, stayed to the end of the credits, and kept giggling all the way to the car and out to the road. So.3b. And as a remake? Totally successful. Possibly even better than the original. Sweet special effects, a snappy pace and dimensional characters, a few sideways references to the ongoing economic crisis and some Deeper Themes about the nature of being a fan. In 3D.
This is all despite the 3D glasses not quite fitting over my own glasses. There weren't many moments where I forgot about the 3D artifice, but I still enjoyed the film immensely. Maybe watching in 3D gets better with practice? This was my first 3D summer blockbuster.
tl;dr - I was expecting silly and fun, and while I got my fannish catnip I also got a film I'd enjoy watching again. It made me happy, and it gave me characters I liked. Yes, it was worth the $15.75
